1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printers and more particularly such printer that prints on a selected one of a rigid medium such as an optical disk and a printing tape inserted into the printer body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, printers that print characters, composing a title for data recorded on an optical disk (or recording medium) such as a CD-R (Compact Disk-Recordable), on the same are known, for example, as disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-72175. This printer comprises a tray that supports an optical disk and a printer mechanism that prints on the optical disk. The tray is movable between outside of the printer body and an predetermined position within the printer body. The printer mechanism comprises a carriage reciprocal over the tray when the same is disposed at the predetermined position within the printer body. The carriage supports a reciprocal thermal head and unloadably receives an ink ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon thereon. In this printer, the thermal head performs thermal transfer printing with the ink ribbon on the optical disk supported on the tray.
Also, printers have been widely used that print on a printing tape and cuts a printed part of the tape, thereby forming a label. In this printer, a tape cassette that contains a printing tape and an ink ribbon is set on a cassette receiving section of the printer body in the form of a cavity. Then, the printing tape is conveyed along a conveyance path and a thermal head is driven to perform thermal transfer printing on the printing tape with the ink ribbon. A printed part of the tape is then discharged out of a discharge port provided at an end of the conveyance path and cut by a cutter provided in the vicinity of the discharge port, thereby forming a label, as disclosed, for example, in Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application No. 7-314747.
For managing purposes, a character string composing a title for the content of an electronic data recorded on the optical disk is printed on a label face of the optical disk using the printer for the optical disk. Then, the same character string as printed on the optical disk is printed on a tape using the tape printer, thereby forming a label, which is then pasted on a case for the optical disk. However, in this case, the two different printers for the optical disk and the tape must be used separately. In addition to printing on both the optical disk and its case, a character string can be often required to be printed only on the label face of the optical disk or only on a label tape. Also in such a case, the two different printers must be prepared.
In terms of this situation, the inventors have developed a printer with a single printing means that can print on any selected one of an optical disk and a tape for a label. This printer has a cutter mechanism for a printed tape part because the printer has the functions of printing on the tape and then creating a label. Thus, the same printing means prints on a soft recording medium such as a tape to be cut and a rigid recording medium such as an optical disk which should not be cut. However, if the cutter mechanism operates wrongly in printing on the optical disk, the optical disk would be broken. Furthermore, if the cutter mechanism, which is designed so as to cut a thin printing tape, acts on the optical disk, the cutter mechanism itself would be damaged. Especially, with a printer in which the cutter mechanism is operated manually, the user could advertently touch his or her hand on an operation member appearing on the printer, thereby operating the cutter mechanism, when the character string is printed on the optical disk.
This printer takes the form of a small flat box where the height dimension is small compared to the width and depth dimensions. An upstanding optical disk is printed while being conveyed along a conveyance path for the printing tape formed within the printer body. In this printer the height of the printer body is small compared to the diameter of the upstanding optical disk. Thus, in order that a character string can be printed on the upstanding optical disk while being conveyed within the printer body, a cover that has a slit-like inlet therein through which the optical disk is inserted into the printer body is provided above the conveyance path for the optical disk so as to cover the cassette receiving section closably. When the cover covers the cassette receiving section, the slit-like inlet in the cover aligns with the conveyance path. In this printer, after the cover is opened, a ribbon cassette is set into the cassette receiving section. Then, the cover is closed and an upstanding optical disk is set in place within the conveyance path through the inlet in the cover. In this state, the optical disk has its upstanding medium part received within the inlet in the cover, its upper half appearing outside the printer body and its lower half received within the printer body. When the printing means starts to operate, the upstanding optical disk and the ink ribbon are held between the thermal head and the platen roller, and then conveyed in a predetermined direction along the conveyance path by the rotating platen roller. Thus, an ink on the ink ribbon is transferred by heat produced by the thermal head to the label face of the optical disk conveyed in the upstanding state within the inlet in the cover.
When it is found in this printer that a ribbon cassette is not set after the optical disk is set on the printer body or when a set ribbon cassette is desired to be replaced with a different color one, the cover is opened and then the ribbon cassette will be set or replaced. However, when the cover is inadvertently opened with the optical disk set in the printer body, the edge of the inlet in the cover may hit on the label face of the optical disk, thereby damaging the same.